You are a grade A jack%ss. First not everyone can make it to week night games, espcially 8 pm starts. Secondly, if you want to impress someone you take them to the match you most likely think the Metros would win. Saturday night should have been an EASY win but as always the Metros grasped a tie from the jaws of victory. As for the other issues the kid raised will still be there on Wednesday, guaranteed. 1) How come there's nobody here? We'll probably get around 15k, in Giants stadium it will still look empty. 2) Why are there football lines on the field? You really think these will be removed cuz it's the Finals Pluh-leaze! 3) Why can't we see the soccer lines? - Same as 2 4) Why do they play two five-minute overtimes? This might switch to two 15 minute OTs like international competition. Oh yeah, and I'm sure the kid would really be impressed if we ended up losing too, which against Chicago this season doesn't seem like a stretch does it Diggler? Idiot.
It's one thing if MLS has to be played on fake grass football grids temporarily - though I'm against it. It's another to have US Soccer stage their premiere club soccer event at Giants stadium on Wednesday. Since the decision came after Chicago and New York won their semis, the game should've been played in Columbus. Both Chicago and NY have fans that could feasibly make the trip to Ohio. The game should be held on the weekend, too. If MLS wants to maximize their own considerable commitment to this tournament, they could even reschedule two games to a Wednesday night. Supposedly the reason for playing in NY was television. So US soccer has conceded a larger crowd in Chicago in favor of showcasing their event to a national audience. The football grid will detract utterly from their showcase. If it had to be in NY, sounds like Rutgers was clearly the place.
P.S. Bob Bradley spoke about his belief in the importance of the field in selling the game. Does anybody have those quotes?
That was my point. They have a better chance of winning a match that means something; especially when it involves a trophy and is front of a home crowd. With a big game coming up their is no way the the Metros or any other team would give 100 percent four days before a cup final and after having already qualified for the playoffs. If you couldn't predict a scoreless draw and dismal attendance for saturdays match you need to go around the block a few more times. P.S. quit your whining about the wed. 8 pm. start. Europeans have no problems attending UEFA matches on wednesdays at 9pm and later!
Diggler, Would the majority of parents allow a ten-year-old child to be at a soccer game at 8 pm on a school night? Besides, it's not always about the kid. Some people need a set amount of sleep in order to be functional the next day and don't always have the luxury of taking off the day after soccer games all the time. I'm 16, and my parents are still hesitant about taking me to the game, because they have to get up early to be at work the next day! It's all about the parents: they have the money, they have the cars, they have the jobs. I'm at a point where I can stay up as long as I want as long as I know I have to go to school the next day. If it weren't for a chemistry lab (which my teacher already knows I'm going to be filled with caffiene for), I would not have to go to school on Thursday because of my attendance so far. Now, about the lines... does anyone know if a contract was made saying that NJSEA would remove the lines for each soccer game? Or did it say the lines would be removed for a fee? Was a contract even made at all? I would have loved for this game to be at Rutgers. Then it would be a solid "Yes, we're going", and we'd have already bought the tickets. (Not to mention it'd be easier to speak to Paul at halftime...)
Do the lines suck. Yes. The thing is I'm more worried about the play on the field than the field itself. I'm not gonna blame the lines for two pathetically missed PK's.
I wonder because US Open Cup final is a midweek game (i.e. no pointy ball game the next day) and because this is an USSF event (not MLS/Metros), if there will be more of an effort to have the football lines removed?
Wouldn't that just be funny. Then every chicken little who was crying about cheapening the sport will think that somebody who cares in NJSEA reads bigsoccer.
When i ordered additional tix to the Open Cup my saleman said " we are trying to get the football lines removed" but he didn't sound to optimistic. European soccer clubs have far less children and females attending soccer matches. In many european leagues one can harly see kids and females in the stands. Of course there are some exceptions but never at the scale as seen in american sports. One can say that only hard core fans attend those games, but there are a lot more of them then us metrofans.
Well, I feel sorry for you if you don't see the difference between watching a game being played at Highbury, with the up close camera angles and the beautiful green pitch in perfect condition, and seeing the game played on a torn up crap pitch with NFL lines over it.
I feel sorry for you because you can't see the game for the game. I can't begin even tell you how I feel when i'm watching soccer. It's the most content I am ever, Except for when i'm actually playing. The game isn't the field it's played on. So what if I don't let some football yard lines take away from my experience. Sorry. p.s. some of those camera angles that I see from the epl are kind of sucky, like they are too close. I think it is at anfield when the players are at the near sideline, you are looking straight down at their heads. (shrugs) I guess that means that watching a liverpool game on tv makes the experience crappy because of a funny camera angle.
You know...for all the apologists out there who feel it is okay having games with gridiron lines on it (much less for a championship game), then i bring up this point: why stop there??? We could have MLS games in baseball stadiums, golf courses, NASCAR stadiums, parking lots!?!?!?...because if it is only the actual playing of the game that matters, and not the presentation of it on and off "the field", then why stop at only American football stadiums????? Am I overeacting on this issue? You bet I am. But when "fans" compromise and say, "well, i guess its okay for our supposed MAJOR LEAGUE teams to be playing at a high school, college, and professional gridiron stadiums, then you better be expecting not only the soccer bashers, but also the curious first timers who want to experience a match to be arrogant, condescending, and downright turned off from the sport. Otherwise, MLS should think about changings its name to mean MINOR league soccer.
show me the money. reality has it that some MLS teams have to play in NFL stadiums (or highschool ones) either temporarily or indefinitely. Now if Metro had their own stadium and there were still football lines on it. THEN i would be pissed.
it's not OK, but this argument is ridiculous...this has never been the case of, well we just dont care enough to have our own stadium...the league has seen tremendous growth, and teams are beginning to get soccer specific stadiums...if "bashers" are too ignorant to see the situation for what it is, screw them...and screw you and them if you can't take pride in the progress that this league has made...WHY STOP THERE?...screw EVERYONE who insists on focusing solely on our league's growing pains...the people that MATTER are us (the true fans of soccer in this country), and the investors (who are GROWING) and we're here to stay...you are blind, with a foolish mouth and deaf ears, leave us alone...
I love this previous post...."Investors who are growing"...what, in age? in weight?? in girth!?!? Oh, do you mean in numbers? By my count, its St. Phil, Bob Kraft, and Lamar Hunt. Seems to me that all the investors that MLS can rely on can be counted on with one hand. And if you think that Mexican guy that wants a Chivas team in the league is going to save MLS, you'd be wrong. He just wants the Chivas "B" team to be getting better practice time than in the Mexican Leagues second division. Wouldn't surprise me in the least bit if he pulled a Horowitz after 3-4 years in the league. I stand by my opinion...and if you want first time viewers to the game to be turned on by the sport, don't expect them to view the leagues "growing pains" as optimistically as you do.
To me it all boils down to respect. I am not just talking about MLS's respect from the media, or from the NJSEA, but rather your self respect. If you have so low of an opinion of yourself that you can say to yourself; "I don't deserve better than this, so I should just be grateful for what I have," Fine! Some of us happen to think that this shrinking violet attitude will only subject you to ever increasing injustices. As it appears to me, NJSEA's attitude seems to be, "this is our stadium if you dont like what we decide, tough." "We'll put down token soccer lines if we wish, we'll put down artifical turf if we want, and you WILL like it!" Just because I don't like the conditions that the Metro play means speaks nothing of my love of "the game" or the team. My love of either can be demonstrated by how I live my life (coaching, referring, starting 2 youth teams for kids who other-wise had no team). My love of the team is demostrated each time I open my wallet. Each time I buy tickets for either a match, home or away each time I purchase MLS/ Metro product, is the most important thing a fan can do. To equate the fact that I complain with the amount of loyalty I have, or how much I love the game is ridiculous. I think that it is in fact the oppsite! I believe it was Cicero, who said (more or less) that we have a duty to critsize (government not the MLS), becaues through that criticsism the government grows stronger. That my fine feathered friends is how I feel about the MLS. I can sit back- do and say nothing and take what is forced on me- and in 10 years we will be playing in the same conditions that we are now! Or I can demand better, thus forcing the league to get better!
I've said it before, but I'd rather see this game at Rutgers on a great field in a stadium packed with 5000 fans than at GS with stupid lines and 10,000 fans and 70,000 empty seats.
Ok, so write a letter to NJSEA. Write a letter to MLS. Have you done that? Because you aren't demanding anything of anyone by spouting off here.